Saturday, June 19, 2010

amok \uh-MUHK\, adjective:

1. In or into a jumbled or confused state.

2. In or into an uncontrolled state or a state of extreme activity.

3. In a frenzy to do violence or kill.

noun:

1. A psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.

Amok enters English from the Malay amuk, "attacking furiously." The word was adopted into Portugese as amouco.

porn moment

• A move so smooth with regards to initiating sexual or pseudo-sexual congress with someone that it could only otherwise have happened in a heavily scripted porn film.

Person A: So I lean over to try and get her number and BAM, next thing I know we're doing it in the back of my van. It was such a porn moment.

PersonB: Uhh, thanks dad

Trivia

Long before singer Bruce Springsteen was dubbed The Boss, what famous entertainer had gained fame as The Boss of the Blues?

• Big Joe Turner, who released an album entitled The Boss of the Blues in 1956—when Springsteen was seven.

History

• Belmont Stakes: had its first running (1867)
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: were executed in New York's Sing Sing prison for conspiracy to commit espionage for the USSR (1953)
• Civil Rights Act of 1964: was approved after outlasting an 83-day US Senate filibuster
• The Rocky Horror Show: romped for the first time, on stage in London (1973)
• John Neumann: Philadelphia bishop became the first US male saint when he was canonized by Pope John Paul II (1977)
• Garfield: Jim Davis's comic strip about a lazy, overeating cat debuted (1978)

Birthdays

• James I of England (1566-1625): aka James VI of Scotland
• Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): scientist, mathematician and religious philosopher
• Lou Gehrig (1903-1941): NY Yankees' "Iron Horse"
• Aung San Suu Kyi (65): winner of 1991's Nobel Peace Prize, who remains a political prisoner in Myanmar
• Paula Abdul (48): singer and American Idol judge
• 
  Zoe Saldana (32): Uhura in Star Trek and Neytiri in Avatar; also, actors Louis Jourdan (91?), Gena Rowlands (80), Phylicia Rashad (62), Kathleen Turner (56), Robin Tunney (38), Poppy Montgomery (35), Lauren Lee Smith (30) and Paul Dano (26)